Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has confirmed that his department no longer engages in “climate change crap.”
Hegseth assured the American people that the Department of Defense (DOD) is now focused on “training and warfighting.”
The Pentagon chief made the remarks while responding to a post from CNN’s Haley Britzky.
Britzky had shared a story about the DOD and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cutting “climate change” programs in the Pentagon.
“The DOD and DOGE have said they plan to cut climate programs in the Pentagon – but officials & experts are warning that climate efforts at DOD are directly linked to military readiness, and say cuts could put troops and military operations at risk,” Britzky wrote.
“…Pentagon Spox John Ullyot said, ‘Climate zealotry and other woke chimeras of the Left are not part’ of DOD’s mission,” Britzky posted.
After seeing the post, Hegseth confirmed the reports.
“John is, of course, correct,” the defense secretary wrote.
“The @DeptofDefense does not do climate change crap.
“We do training and warfighting.”
https://twitter.com/PeteHegseth/status/1898813400949408080
President Donald Trump’s DOGE, which is led by X boss Elon Musk, and the DOD have been working together to slash wasteful spending.
DOD spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed the efforts in a video posted to social media last week.
He listed some of the initial findings flagged by DOGE.
DOGE found that millions of dollars in taxpayer money were given to support various “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programs.
The spending includes $1.9 million for holistic DEI transformation and training in the Air Force and $6 million to the University of Montana to “strengthen American democracy by bridging divides.”
Also, among the findings was $1.6 million to the University of Florida to study the social and institutional detriment of vulnerability in resilience to climate hazards in Africa.
“This stuff is just not a core function of our military,” Parnell said.
“This is not what we do.
“This stuff is a distraction from our core mission.”
“We believe these initial findings will probably save $80 million in wasteful spending,” he added.
Hegseth said his agency would work with DOGE, which has conducted reviews of the Treasury, Labor, Education, and Health departments.
DOGE has also been auditing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of Personnel Management, and Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
He added that many DOGE workers are veterans, and it is a “good thing” that they will find deficiencies.
“They care just like we do, to find the redundancies and identify the last vestiges of Biden priorities — the DEI, the woke, the climate change B.S., that’s not core to our mission, and we’re going to get rid of it all,” Hegseth said.
